Looking for a boost to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account balance? The new Qantas Marketplace could have you covered, with Qantas Points earned per dollar spent and further stashes of bonus Qantas Points beyond that.
Qantas Marketplace, now online at the Qantas website, effectively replaces what was the Qantas Rewards Store. If you choose, you can still spend Qantas Points on merchandise. But the revamp gives the hub a greater retail focus, with many items available for purchase using dollars alone, not Qantas Points.
At launch, Qantas Marketplace counts some 900 brands and over 20,000 products among its collection. The selections centre on fashion, beauty, homewares, appliances and technology.
Earning Qantas Points at Qantas Marketplace
Under the previous Qantas Rewards Store, any amounts paid using dollars provided two Qantas Points per dollar spent. But now under Qantas Marketplace, shoppers will always earn at least three Qantas Points per dollar instead.
There are also some short-term bonus deals on the table – encouraging people to give the site a try. Until the end of March, you could earn 2,000-10,000 bonus Qantas Points per transaction, for purchasing items with dollars, rather than spending points.
Members can take advantage of these offers more than once. However, bonus Qantas Points are calculated based on the amount spent per transaction, not cumulatively. They also can’t be stacked – you won’t earn 10,000 bonus Qantas Points on a single $1,000 transaction, for instance.
There’s another sweetener for members of Qantas Points Club, although it’s a short-term offer rather than a permanent feature of Qantas Marketplace. Until 30 June, that’s double base Qantas Points for Points Club members, and triple Qantas Points for those at the Points Club Plus tier. Here’s what that looks like in numbers.
- All Qantas Frequent Flyer members: Earn three Qantas Points per $1 spent.
- Qantas Points Club members: Earn a total of six Qantas Points per $1 spent (3+3).
- Qantas Points Club Plus members: Earn a total of nine Qantas Points per $1 spent (3+6).
These boosts for Qantas Points Club and Points Club Plus apply to the base earning rate whenever spending dollars. The bonuses don’t apply to offers of fixed bonus points, but can be earned alongside them.
For example, a Points Club Plus member shopping in March 2023 and spending $500 in cash would earn:
- 4,500 Qantas Points, based on earning nine Qantas Points per $1 spent ($500 x 9), plus
- 10,000 bonus Qantas Points, from the fixed offer.
All up, that’s 14,500 Qantas Points.
Qantas Marketplace remains separate from Qantas Shopping
Another great way to earn Qantas Points when shopping online is to use the aptly named Qantas Shopping site. Rather than Qantas itself being the retailer, this allows Qantas Points to be earned when shopping with a range of other businesses.
Qantas Marketplace doesn’t replace Qantas Shopping. You can still earn Qantas Points by clicking through the Qantas Shopping site and making an eligible purchase from a participating retailer. Qantas Marketplace simply provides another avenue to earn Qantas Points, if you buy directly from Qantas instead.
As with the previous Qantas Rewards Store, it’s possible to spend Qantas Points at Qantas Marketplace. But as it’s a Point Plus Pay redemption, using Qantas Points on Classic Flight Rewards and upgrades instead remains the strongest way to spend those hard-earned rewards.
Our Frequent Flyers already earn more points on the ground than they do through travel. With Qantas Marketplace, we’re connecting them to hundreds of brands that they know and love, with the added benefit of being able to earn and use points.
Australia’s love of Qantas Points has seen us build strong partnerships with some of the country’s biggest brands. These connections are key to keeping our members engaged in the program and ultimately drive value for our business.
– Olivia Wirth, Qantas Loyalty CEO, 9 March 2023
Summing up
Qantas Marketplace is offering some tempting bonus points deals at launch. Being able to earn up to 14,500 Qantas Points from a $500 spend is significant. That’s up to 29 Qantas Points per $1 spent. And of course, if you pay using a points-earning credit card, you’ll earn an extra serve of points from the card itself.
We’ve also reached out to Qantas Frequent Flyer to confirm whether selected credit cards will earn bonus Qantas Points when shopping via Qantas Marketplace.
For instance, the Qantas Premier Everyday, Qantas Premier Platinum and Qantas Premier Titanium cards advertise a bonus Qantas Point per dollar spent at the Qantas Rewards Store (which Qantas Marketplace replaces).
Qantas Money Platinum
- Sign-up Bonus:
- Up to 100,000 bonus Qantas Points
- Rewards Earn Rate:
- 1 Qantas Point per whole AU$1 on Domestic Spend up to $10,000 per statement period and 0.5 thereafter. 1.5 Qantas Points per whole AU$1 equivalent on international spend plus 1 additional Qantas Point per whole AU$1 on selected Qantas spend
- Annual Fee:
- $349 for the first year, $399 p.a.
- Earn 60,000 Qantas Points when you spend $5,000 in the first 90 days, plus 40,000 bonus Qantas Points if you haven’t earned Qantas Points with a credit card in the last 24 months. Enjoy two Qantas Club lounge passes annually, complimentary international travel insurance, and 0% p.a. on balance transfers for 12 months (3% fee applies). The annual fee is $349 in the first year, then $399 ongoing. Earn 1 Qantas Point per $1 spent and 1.5 Qantas Points per AU$1 spent overseas.
It’ll be interesting to see whether Qantas Marketplace continues to offer promotions with bonus Qantas Points attached. Come the end of March, those fixed bonus offers will be retired, and come July 1, the bonuses for Points Club members are also set to disappear.
Thereafter, earning three Qantas Points per dollar spent is still nice. But many of the retailers attached to Qantas Shopping award points at higher rates. It seems the best advice is to continue shopping around to find the best deal.
Also read: When it makes sense to book domestic Economy using Qantas Points
Feature image courtesy of Ksenia Chernaya/Pexels.
Stay up to date with the latest news, reviews and guides by subscribing to Point Hacks’ email newsletter.
Can anyone clarify if the bonus point apply to Gift cards purchased through Marketplace, for instance if I bought 2x $250 Gourmet Gift Card Vouchers?
@John.
Gift cards, physical or digital are excluded under the T&Cs. https://marketplace.qantas.com/au/exclusions
@platy. Yes, what I think the example in the article is trying to convey is that you can’t expect to pay $1000 in a transaction and receive 10k of fixed bonus points for $500 of it, 5k fixed bonus points for $300 of it and 2k fixed bonus points for $200 of it. Which wasn’t how I read the terms and conditions anyway which then confused me :-). 9 points for every dollar drives the biggest benefit on the purchases I’m contemplating (which requires a tracking spreadsheet for more than 10!)
Chris, I don’t understand the statement “ They also can’t be stacked – you won’t earn 10,000 bonus Qantas Points on a single $1,000 transaction, for instance.” Why wouldn’t a single $1000 transaction count? It’s greater than the qualifying $500 cash spend threshold? What am I missing?
I think I’ve worked out what you mean. As a points club plus member for example, spending $1000 cash would earn me 9000 bonus points plus 10,000 points for the ‘fixed’ points bonus. So all up 19000 points. Too excited by the idea of getting something useful as a PCP member to read the ‘fixed’ versus ‘bonus’ terminology!
@ CJH
That’s how I read it too.
Obviously the maximum earn rate is accrued if you spend in lots of AUD500, so practically buy stuff at that price point (not below) or just over on each transaction.
Per the example in the article the maximum earn rate would then be 29 points per AUD (compared with 19 points per AUD in your example).
If there’s stuff you really need and want to buy and the price is competitive and you get hit the AUD500 mark then the earn rate is tidy.
But still not in the league of many QF Wine deals, especially since PCP offers 10% off wine stackable with QF Business Rewards, Premium membership, bonus points, the AUD50 vouchers etc. easy get 40-60 points per AUD, possible to get 60-70 points per AUD if the goal is boosting points….;)
Depends what each individual needs and wants…anyway as PCP member you’re probably all over this already.
@ KW
Yes, the program devalues, and yes the airline messes up frustratingly at times, and yes blogs such as this only report an unrealistic sugar candy highly pro airline biased view of the world, and yes the there is an unrepresentative highly arrogant frequent flyer brigade that obsesses with status and their first class lounge access an dominate certain bulletin boards / blogs – despite all of that, it is still possible to stitch together some great point earning opportunities and handsome redeeming opportunities for an excellent – it does take some effort…;)
What is the point of new ways to earn points when you can’t redeem because the program keeps getting devalued all the time, or when you find a seat it doesn’t get ticketed in time.
Something not picked up on blogs such as this and the rest of the salt and pepper squid brigade.
I’ve pondered this lately too. The easier it is to earn points the harder it is to find reward seats. Qantas needs to release for reward seats or they risk high point earners moving elsewhere.